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ice cube trays

UGH
so i made my first "batch" of babyfood last night. It was bananas and it was about a cup, so i poured it into the ice cube trays and popped it into the freezer feeling pretty darn smart. So today i get out my freezer bags and my sharpie and the ice cube tray, ony to find that i could NOT coax the banana pops out. So i ended up dipping them into a pan of warm water to loosen them and the picking them out, and the banana slime had formed a suction in the tray. Then i turned them all up on their ends on a plate...back into the freezer, and hopefully i can get them into the freezer bag(in peices) in a few hours.

Someone please tell me there is a better way of doing this. I am willing to buy the one step ahead stacking cube things if they are really worth it. If i put water in the bananas instead of BM would the they freeze harder and then pop out easier?
tia
gabby

Re: ice cube trays

Some foods are a bit trickier...Bananas may be one of them. I have never tried to freeze mashed banana...I just give it to my little guy in pieces, or have him take little bites off the actual banana. There were only certain things that I actually froze, but those were mixed up veggies and never used them for the babe, just put them in a meatloaf . We always think that babies need pureed food, that is next to looking like water...not so. If you are comfortable, give the little one a VERY small piece of banana, or just mash a little piece up with a fork and see how baby reacts.

I really think that the whole puree thing is just so we buy jarred baby food...it is only thin so baby doesn't gag, which they generally do with a new texture and taste. DS LOVES bananas, love love loves them. They made him gag...not anymore of course, but at first. He has been eating finger food from the start! No way he will take anything off a spoon!

Re: ice cube trays

well i did just mash them but the peices seemed to stick together and i think they are a little big for him. So far all he had had was oatmeal cereal and he eats that well. and i just thought making the batch would save me a little time this week...

Re: ice cube trays

I agee with pp... bannanas We would just share and what ever they didn't eat I finished. I have frozen bannana sliced and that works pretty well they don't stick together. Just flash freeze them on a tray and then put them into a plastic bag. I use them to make smoothies for my older kids.

Re: ice cube trays

I made some baby food, but never banana. My DS turned out to be one of those babies that more or less went straight to finger-food, later.

However, if you're interested in ice cube trays, I used the ones from OXO. They have a lid to prevent freezer burn, but not for each individual cube. I never had a problem popping the food out, and they came highly recommended on a babyfeeding thread on another message board. I found mine at Linens N Things.

Re: ice cube trays

I briefly used ice cube trays with my son - and found that the knife-prying technoque was most effective ! Actually, for the babyfood batches large enough to need freezing I bought individual freezr storage cups - marketed to store breastmilk - but good anyway. But with something like banana or avacado - that is easy to transport in it's natural form and get's used up quickly, just keep a fork handy to mash it to the most appropriate texture for your baby....Did you have a particular reason for freezing the banana? (Like trying to be prepared for early morning running out the door to daycare/work or something equally demanding?)